A Different Garden - March

A Month in the Garden

The Effects of a Cold Winter

Well what a difference a year (or 2) makes!This winter has by far been the coldest for many years, particularly in terms of sustained cold, rather than short sharp cold spells. These have lasted between 10 days and 2 and a half weeks, interspersed by quite short mild spells. This is in contrast to previous winters when the mild spells lasted longer and the cold spells quite brief (if quite intense). This has had quite an effect on the garden as you can imagine.

Late winter flowering plants such as snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis) in particular have lasted longer this year. The cold has apparently preserved the flowers for longer and with fewer insects about to pollinate the flowers, they have not run to seed so quickly. Winter flowering heathers (Erica carnea and Erica x darleyensis) have also had a good flowering season for similar reasons, and the lack of other flowering plants has allowed them a more prominent flowering role.

More noticable has been the effect on the early spring flowering plants. In my garden these include; Daffodils (Narcissus), Forsythia, Helleborus x hybridus and in a very mild year Clematis armandii and Camelia japonica. At this point in March for the past two years, all of these have been in flower to a greater or lesser degree. The hellebores in particular had been out for at least a month, and the same could be said of the Forsythia and Daffodils.

This year of the plants described above, only the hellebores are currently in flower, having come out only in the past few days as I write this. The rest remain tightly in bud, if in bud at all. A similar story story could be told of the majority of the deciduous leaved shrubs in the garden. There is litle sign of life at this point. The only rare exceptions are a handfull of miniature daffodils in pots that have started to flower, and on the shrub front, a shrubby potentila (Potentilla fruticosa) in a sheltered part of the garden. A sign perhaps that, despite the continuing cold, spring is not THAT far away!